blind
by Kantama
Summary: I sometimes wonder why I felt so strongly about her. Maybe it's because I knew how it felt to be hated as she was, to be seen as repulsive by everyone. I am a wolf, after all. We live with that every day, even if no one notices us.
1. Begins

I don't know when it was that I first found her. Or when she found me. All I know is that I was drawn to her, to the blind woman who smiled. Even though people despised her and played those sorts of mocking tricks that the blind have no chance of escaping, still she always smiled and laughed. Her smile was a constant, always bright with a trace of laughter lacing the fringes of her happiness. She had her moments of seriousness of course, but it seemed as if her very countenance rejected the idea of not smiling, as one was never far from her lips.

Mind you, I could tell when her smile was false but no one else could, and that was exactly what she wanted. When the burden of hiding her pain became too great her smile would fade as her sightless eyes shone with unshed tears. She never cried in front of anyone. If someone pushed her down in the street, or played a trick on her (even the ones that ended in injury for her), or even if someone made a snide remark while knowing full well she could hear them, she would simply smile through the pain, holding the hurt at bay with a laugh. Not even once in all the time I watched her did she ever let anyone bring her to tears in their presence. She would wait instead for the dark and loneliness of night, wandering the paths she knew in the woods to weep beneath the leaves and the light of the blood red moon. I would keep watch on her from the shadows of the trees as she'd cry in the darkness, allowing no one to see her tears. Anyone who ventured close to where the blind woman wept often returned to their homes with stories of phantoms in the shadows and growls that seemed to emanate from the ground itself while the sound of weeping drifted in the distance.

I sometimes wondered why I felt so strongly about her, the blind woman who smiled. Maybe it's because I know how it feels to be hated as she was; to be seen as repulsive by everyone through no fault of one's own, but because of some cruel twist of fate that nothing could account for.

I am a wolf, after all. My kind live with that every day, even if no one notices us.

I watched her for a long time. I was content to do that, to see her as she'd go about her daily chores. There wasn't much she couldn't do, despite her handicap. Though the people in her workplace didn't like her much, even they had to admit a sort of grudging admiration for her spirit. If they poked fun at her lack of sight, she'd just smile and say that it was okay to gain the eternal at the cost of the temporary, walking away humming while they would stare after her with knitted brows and confused glances. I never knew what she meant until I heard her explaining it to a child who'd asked her what it was like to be blind. She'd knelt down and taken the boy's hand, speaking in a very soft voice that I'm sure made that boy feel like he was being told a great secret. I'll never forget what she said.

"A long, long time ago, there was a woman named Helen Keller. She was worse off then I am, you understand, because she couldn't see or hear. All she could see was darkness, and all she could hear was silence. She met a woman who taught her what it was like to live, to see without sight and to hear without hearing. She became a great person who changed a lot of lives, and it was she who said this." She ahemed, clearing her throat, then recited, "'The most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.' And then someone else said that what we see is only temporary, that it all passes away, but what we feel is eternal." She smiled, tapping her temple. "Without my sight I do miss a lot of things, but you know what?"

The boy leaned forward, whispering, "What?" in an awe-struck tone. I almost laughed at the look of adoration on his face. With some difficulty I kept my silence, waiting to hear her reply.

"I pick up on a lot of things other people never notice. I hear what no one else hears, and I can feel things others don't." She wiggled her fingers at him, smiling still. I couldn't help but wonder if she was joking or really serious, though her comedic spider-fingers were making me assume the former.

Though she couldn't see it he nodded solemnly then queried, "So you're like a wolf?"

You can bet that surprised me.

She tilted her head and laughed, "What makes you say that, little man?"

"I heard my mom say that wolves could hear and see things that people can't." He leaned forward, whispering in a conspiratory manner. "Mom said that they could find paradise. And since you can hear things that I can't, doesn't that make you like a wolf?"

She smiled. "I suppose it does. Now go on home, your mother is calling you."

Sure enough, she was. He bid the blind woman a hasty goodbye and skittered away, grinning hugely. I could only just hear his mother scolding him, saying that he needed to stay away from strange people like that weird blind lady. I grinned when I heard his adamant cries that she wasn't a weird blind lady, she was a nice lady who told him something really neat. Their voices faded into the distance and I turned my attention back to the woman I'd been following all this time.

She had straightened, standing to stare sightlessly into the sky, which the sunset had painted the most wonderful colors. She stretched out one hand, as though reaching to trace the glorious image and so learn how it looked. Her long fingers brushed back and forth in the air, painting a picture visible only to her. After a moment her hand stilled, then dropped to her side. With a barely audible sigh she turned her back on the wondrous sight, her free hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist and her blind eyes shining like broken jewels as she made her way home.

It was then, in that one moment, that I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to meet her, help her, in any way I could.

And that's how it all began.


	2. Don't

Slowly. That's how she moved. Even if she concentrated for hours, Syri knew she wouldn't remember even once when she ran. For her being blind meant that she was destined to go everywhere at a slow pace, no matter what. It wasn't as bad as other things, being blind. At least that's what her mother would always say when lecturing her about how she should be grateful that all she lost was her sight and not her life.

Sometimes she wondered about that.

She tilted her head back, feeling her hair as it brushed her neck. Her way-cane, as she called the stick she used to feel her way around, busily tapped the ground ahead of her, searching for obstacles. Her head came back down, sightless eyes staring fixedly at the stones by default. Anyone who didn't know her would think the woman was staring hard at the path in an attempt to perhaps remember the way to wherever she was going, and in that assumption they would be quite incorrect. Syri knew the way to her house by heart, but those who didn't like her had been known to toss things into her path to trip her up. She didn't want any unwarranted falls today (or any other day of course, but today was today) and so she was careful to check her path before walking it. If anything she gave it extra attention because she'd heard murmuring on her way through the city that hadn't sounded good, carrying traces of ill will and malicious humor that she'd learned to recognize as bad news when it was aimed toward her.

She sighed heavily, wondering what in the world she had ever done to deserve enemies whose only grievance with her was that she was blind. She was a practical, whimsical sort of woman. She always had been. She never held a grudge for the simple fact that she wasn't going to devote her energy to something so pointless. In Syri's mind it was a simple matter: she hadn't done anything, so there was no reason for anyone to come after her. So why didn't the people around her follow the same logic? It just didn't make sense, and it was a difficult pill to swallow. The knowledge tore at her every time she thought about it, so she made a point not to, turning her attention instead to the path ahead.

So intent was she on her way-cane and what it might encounter that it was only when something large brushed against her legs that she even realized anything was there. She stopped dead in her tracks, wary but not afraid of what the thing might be. She lived on the outskirts of the city, after all, and goodness only knew what roamed the wilds beyond her home.

Cautious, Syri held out her free hand. A large furred nose nudged it and she let out the breath she'd been holding in a glad whoosh of air. It was only a dog, after all, and a friendly one at that. She knelt down, laying her way-cane beside her feet so she could wrap her arms around the beast's neck. It was unexpectedly thick and she realized that this was one monster of a dog. She nuzzled her nose into its fur, giggling when it tickled. The canine didn't seem to mind, sitting calmly as it allowed her to love on it.

Syri unlatched her arms, sitting back on her heels to regard the dog with her blind eyes. "Well, you surprised me, Mr. Dog." She'd decided the dog was a he. "Snuck up on me proper, you did indeed." She sighed, raking a hand through her hair. "I'd love to stay here and chat with you, but I've got to get home. I have work tomorrow and I can't afford to be late." She retrieved her way-cane, rising to her feet. "So I must say good-bye and farewell, Mr. Dog." She made an elaborate bow in the dog's direction, tipping an imaginary hat.

Amused at herself for bowing to a dog, she began walking, tapping her way. The amusement quickly turned to exasperation when the dog came up beside her, leaning his body against her left leg. Syri yelped and staggered to the side, but managed to right herself at the last second. She sent the furred troublemaker a blind glare then tried to keep going. Again the dog interfered, now blocking her path completely. Feeling a bit annoyed, she nevertheless tried to keep some of her usual good humor about her and instead of kicking the dog she whined, "Mr. Dog, I said sorry for not being able to stay and talk, didn't I? Why won't you let me go home?"

She was a bit surprised when the dog gave a growling bark that seemed to be a bit snappish. Thoroughly confused she leaned over him and tapped with her way-cane, searching for what might have made the canine so insistent in keeping her still.

Her way-cane hit something.

Dropping to her hands and knees, wincing a bit at the thought of the dirt she'd have to wash out of her skirt later, she crawled forward past the dog, who'd obligingly moved aside. Going at a painstakingly slow pace she waved her hand back and forth above the ground in front of her. It wasn't long before her fingers brushed something hard and sharp. Making a surprised sound she knelt in front of what she'd found and tried to figure out what it was by touch.

Her fingers slow and unsure, she gently and cautiously felt the mystery object. It was something that was flat in parts with lots of sharp, rough things protruding out of it. Syri probed the flat area with one hand and was awarded a splinter for her efforts. It was then that the realization of just what was blocking her path struck her with all the force of a punch to the gut.

It was a wooden board, big and wide with rusty nails jutting through it. Not wanting to believe what her senses were telling her, she leaned to the side to feel just how long the board was.

It spanned the width of her path. Even with her way-cane she wouldn't have been able to avoid it.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she surrendered to them, pressing her fists against her mouth in an effort to muffle the sobs. It didn't work. "Why? Why? What did I do wrong?" She sat down on the worn stones, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Why d-do people do this to me? Wha-when did I ever hurt them?" Keening wails ripped their way out of her chest and nothing she did could stifle them. "W-why d-d-d-do they tr-tr-try to ha-hurt m-m-meeeee?" Festered pain and rotted hurt mixed with rancid confusion swarmed her mind, flooding thoughts of betrayal and agony into her head that she couldn't stop. When Mr. Dog pressed his warm body against hers she latched onto him, burying her face in his ruff and sobbing.

She didn't know that she was really crying into the fur of a wolf, or that he'd seen the group of teenagers that had put the board there in the first place. Nor did she know that they'd decided to wait until she'd been crippled by their little trap then they'd planned to rape her, snickering to themselves that a blind woman would never be able to retaliate against such an attack. They probably would've succeeded had it not been for the enormous dog that had showed up and scared them all silly. None of this did she know, and he planned on keeping it that way.

After a good long cry Syri drew away from her canine comforter and wiped her eyes, giggling weakly. Her breath still came in hitched half-sobs as she chuckled, "I must seem pretty pathetic to you, huh? Breaking down and sobbing over something like this. Ugh, I bet poor Kantama is starving by now." Wobbling to her feet, she took hold of her way-cane and leaned heavily on it, hands trembling. She took a hesitant step using her way-cane as a cane then felt Mr. Dog push his head up under her free hand.

"Do you want to lead, boy?"

He barked in approval and began walking, guiding her around the board, which necessitated them forging through the underbrush beside the path for a little ways, then on toward home. Trusting the dog's instincts, Syri followed him. He led her swiftly across the worn stones, his white blue eyes scanning ahead to be sure of her safety. He'd made the effort to meet her, and none too soon if he did say so himself, so he wasn't about to let her be injured now.

Syri sniffled in confusion when the dog disappeared from under her hand. It wasn't until she felt him nudging her hip that she tapped ahead with her way-cane. She almost started crying again from happiness when she discovered herself at her own front door with Kantama meowing for her inside.

Quickly unlocking said door she opened it to let Mr. Dog slip inside and then did so herself before closing and locking it behind her. Smiling and blinking back tears, Syri set her way-cane beside the door and walked over to where Kantama was yowling insistently. Smiling down at her demanding cat, the blind woman scratched behind his ears. She grinned when Kantama started purring, eyes closing in bliss at being petted. Speaking to the dog that was sitting in a corner of the room she said, "I don't really know why I do this, since all it does is spoil this kitten. He's plenty spoiled as it is, don't you agree?" She giggled when the dog gave a woof of agreement. The cat hissed in protest.

When her hand finally started to cramp from scratching the cat, Syri strode over to the stove, lifting the top off a pot that seemed to have been simmering for quite some time. Steam wafted up from it and his mouth watered at the smell of meat that radiated outwards from the vessel. He was quite relieved to see her pouring the contents of the pot into three bowls, with one markedly larger than the rest. This was the one she set in front of him and he went at the food within with gusto. Before Kantama and Syri had halfway finished their meals he was already done with his, standing at Syri's elbow and staring fixedly at her bowl. She gave him a playful swat to the nose when she felt him pressing closer, admonishing him for his bad manners.

Now feeling just a little bit miffed but not enough to actually be annoyed, he stretched out on a nearby rug and watched as Syri collected everyone's bowls and cleaned them. She was a very tidy person, though that trait could be credited to the fact that everything had to go back into its place or she'd lose it. She'd most likely memorized the location of everything in the house for that very reason.

After drying the dishes and putting them away, Syri set her way-cane in a small basket by her bed, making sure that it was just so before moving on. She cleaned up the leftovers from dinner, making sure all the food was safely stored in various containers and tucked into several cupboards. Kantama meowed until she walked over and gave him a final pat on the head, making the cat purr with contentment.

When the wolf saw her walking over to her closet, he was decent enough to shut his eyes. When the blind woman had finished changing into her pajamas he opened them again, stretching luxuriously and ignoring the cat, who was eyeballing him from Syri's pillow. The wolf watched her as she walked over and got into her bed, petting and moving the cat to make room for her to lay down.

He'd just been about to start dozing (it was a very comfy rug) when Syri suddenly sat up and exclaimed, "Oh my! I haven't found out your name yet, have I Mr. Dog? I can't keep calling you that, so we must come up with a name, mustn't we? Goodness, and to think that I almost forgot. That would have been terribly rude of me."

He tilted his head, amused at the importance she placed on the name of a supposed dog. She was a strange one indeed.

"Well, come on up here. I don't want to be staring at the floor." She patted the bed beside her, indicating that he was to join her.

Being something of an opportunist he accepted the offer. Hopping easily onto the mattress he settled himself in beside the woman, who laid her hand on his head and absently scratched behind his ears. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the way her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tried her very hardest to think of a good name for him. He clammed up a second later when Syri sat up straighter, turning her head this way and that to try and locate who'd been laughing. Puzzled she asked, "Did you hear that boys? I heard someone giggling, I swear I did."

He huffed a bit in protest. He didn't giggle!

After a few more minutes of listening she relaxed, smiling down at the animals on her bed. "Well, I guess I was imagining things. Anyway. We've got to come up with a name. And Kantama I'm expecting some input from you this time around."

Said cat was busy giving the wolf the evil eye, having stretched out alongside Syri's thigh earlier on and thus had been sandwiched between his owner and the wolf who'd relocated to the bed. The wolf ignored the cat, instead whispering very, very softly, the name Kaze.

Syri, mistaking the suggestion for her own thoughts (which had been his intention), exclaimed, "Kaze! Your name is Kaze!"

When he noticed the blind woman's yawning, the newly named Kaze laid his head down on the pillow. Syri bid her animals good night and snuggled up against him, throwing one arm over his neck. The wolf, not minding this one little bit, listened to her breathing slow and lengthen as she fell asleep at his side.

"Taking advantage of a blind woman, are you?"

Kaze didn't move except to look at Kantama through the corner of his eye. "I could say the same of you."

The cat harrumphed. "She knows what I am. I'm not putting on airs and pretending to be a lion, now am I?"

"She needs someone to protect her."

"And you volunteered yourself for the part, it seems."

"I don't see you keeping your master from being raped."

Kantama gave him the evil eye. "That's not the first time it's happened, and probably won't be the last. She's taken care of herself up 'til now. If you'd watched instead of interfering, you'd've seen just what I mean."

The wolf's ears perked. "How did you know I've been watching her?"

Kantama jumped down from where he'd been perched, approaching the massive lupine. "I'm a cat. All the superstitions surrounding my kind aren't completely unfounded, you know." His bronze eyes practically glowed in the darkness.

"I'll keep that in mind. So, since you're not gonna be able to get rid of me," the cat rolled his eyes, "you may as well tell me about this woman. How'd she go blind?"

Kantama sat down just beyond the bed, staring up at the enormous beast. "It was an accident. She was hit by a baseball in the back of the head. It affected the nerves there and rendered her blind. That happened when she was three. She's pretty quick to adapt to things, and being blind is no different. As you may have noticed, she's able to get around pretty well most of the time with only her way-cane to guide her. She's also a decent fighter with it." The cat grinned as much as a cat can. "Though I will admit I am glad that you'll be with her from now on. I always worry about her when she's gone, and if you're near her I know she'll be okay."

Kaze returned the smile, though he did raise an eyebrow when the cat leapt onto his back and began kneading the flesh between Kaze's shoulder blades with his claws. With a grimace he asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

The cat curled up on the spot he'd been kneading, tucking his paws beneath himself and covering his nose with his tail. When he spoke his voice was muffled and already sounded drowsy. "I'm sleeping. You're warm."

Kaze chuckled to himself. "Alright." And so the wolf slept.


	3. Turn

By sunrise the next day Syri was already up, dressed, and had fixed breakfast. Kaze and Kantama only watched in awe as the blind woman swept through the house like a hurricane. They'd already eaten their share of food and so had plenty of time to gawk, though one was significantly less impressed than the other simply because he'd been living with her for far longer. It was a testament to her skills that she could still make the cat surprised even after all this time.

Soon after they'd finished their portions of breakfast it was time to go. Syri was walking out the door when Kaze came up beneath her hand. Smiling, she asked if he wanted to lead again and laughed when she felt his head dip up and down.

"Alright then, lead on dear heart!" she cried gallantly, pointing her way-cane dramatically at the sky.

And so she went to work led by a very large wolf, though of course everyone who saw the pair just thought him to be some exotic dog breed or just an enormous mutt. Nonetheless several people who'd been planning pranks to pull on the blind woman that day decided not to play their various tricks once said wolf gave them a sharp glare. It wasn't until she actually arrived at work that the trouble started.

"Absolutely not! There is no way that mongrel can stay in here!"

"Kaze is not a mongrel! He's my guide dog!"

Syri was currently toe-to-toe with one of her meaner co-workers, this version having the name Cynthia. Whilst tall and quite attractive, the woman was cursed with the screechiest voice he'd ever heard. That voice was, at the moment, rising to glass-breaking heights as the banshee protested Kaze's presence. While he was sure there were all sorts of reasons why he shouldn't quantify the woman down to just her attitude and her voice (stereotype much?) he just couldnot help it. Her voice _hurt!_

He heaved a sigh. Oh how his ears suffered.

"What's going on here?!" Mr. Thompson, the boss of the two bickering women as well as the rest of that department (Kaze was able to quickly deduce this by the man's name tag and how everyone shut up once he got close), strode up with a clipboard in hand and a furious expression on face. Even the light glinting off his balding cranium seemed agitated. Kaze was impressed.

"Mr. Thompson! Our _beloved_ Lady Dark," that was a favorite nickname among those who didn't like Syri, though Kaze thought it was one of the silliest "insulting" nicknames he'd ever heard of, "seems to think it's alright for her to come traipsing in here with an enormous, vicious-looking mutt!"

Kaze tried his best to appear harmless. It wasn't too hard, since he'd already laid down at Syri's feet and put his head on his paws. All he had to do was close his eyes and pretend to be asleep with one ear twitching now and then. He risked a peep up at the humans when he sensed someone kneeling in front of him. It was Mr. Thompson and the man was staring at him quite intently.

Deciding to play up the "I'm a sweet little puppy, love me!" act, Kaze raised his head and tilted it, letting his tongue loll and panting happily. Giving a soft woof, he leaned forward and rubbed against Mr. Thompson's outstretched hand. He'd done this bit before and so was well able to perfectly execute the age-old routine. When the man pulled his hand back Kaze half sat up, giving the human puppy eyes and pawing at his pant leg, as though he wanted more attention.

Charmed, Mr. Thompson straightened and said, "He doesn't seem vicious to me, Cynthia. And it would help us if Syri had a guide dog to keep her from getting lost."

The blind woman blushed, "That only happened once, Mr. Thompson! I told you, I dropped my way-cane and couldn't--"

"Be that as it may, sir, I still protest the dog's presence here!" Cynthia interrupted shrilly.

"Well that's just too bad!" Mr. Thompson's face set into a scowl as he rounded on the woman, snapping, "If you hadn't taken it into your head to start this little feud, both of you would already be working and we wouldn't have customers outside waiting on us! Get to work _now_!"

Cynthia "hmph!"-ed and marched off, no doubt plotting how to get rid of the pesky animal in the quickest way possible. Once she was gone Mr. Thompson seemed to deflate, all irritation draining out of him. He turned to Syri and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Syri, you really should've asked me if it was alright for you to bring a dog in here."

Her blind gaze fell to the ground, her toe absently tracing patterns in the thin layer of dirt that coated the floor. "Well, I was afraid you'd say no..."

He smiled and shrugged, though the gesture was lost on Syri. "The pup's no threat to anyone so far as I can tell," Kaze didn't appreciate that remark in the least; even if it was the image he'd been aiming for it was still rather insulting, "and no one can really protest a blind woman having a guide dog. Now go on to work now, or I'll have to dock your pay."

Beaming, Syri bobbed her head and chirped, "Yessir!" Turning she called for Kaze to come on and hurried to the elevator, the canine giving an indignant bark and clambering to his paws. He loped after her, whining once he'd reached her side. She glanced at him without seeing and murmured something placating, giving the dog a good scratch behind the ears.

Mr. Thompson watched the two board the elevator, a faint smile lingering on his lips. His late wife had adored dogs, and had had one that looked a bit like the one that was following Syri now, though in a much smaller size. After her death that pup had been one of the few things he had left that she'd ever loved, and he'd hoped that it would live on and help him keep her memory alive. It wasn't to be, however, because the dog had pined for her, eventually coming to rest in a small grave beside hers.

Tapping his clipboard idly against his thigh, he gazed at where Syri and her guide dog had been standing. His wife had only been dead a year when he'd met the blind woman, and she was the one with her relentless determination to live life as best she could that had pulled him from his depression. He thought of her as his daughter, the one he wished he and his beloved wife had had.

Today was the third anniversary of her death, and just when he'd been resigning himself to a day of melancholy and bittersweet memories, Syri had come with something to brighten his day. Her dog, who reminded him of the one who perished to be with his wife, had been just the thing to lift his spirits.

"I wish you could have met her, Helen. I wish you could've."

Shaking his head ruefully, he went back to work, observing with a smile that now she'd have someone to protect her.


	4. Run

Kaze had no idea what was going on.

He was confused, bemused, bewildered, confounded, boggled, embrangled, whatever word it was still the same. All day he'd been running around, learning the ropes of just what Syri's job consisted of. So far he'd learned zilch. Yes, zilch. There was no other word for it. Well, there were other words, but that one seemed to fit best.

All he knew was that while her coworkers did admit to a grudging admiration of her aptitude and ability to adapt, she was still slighted by almost everyone because she was blind. He'd had to steer her around little obstacles "accidentally" scattered in the places where she walked too many times to count, and it'd taken quite a few suspicious glares on his part to get some of the more daring troublemakers to keep to themselves. Unluckily for them, the Big Fierce Guard Wolf Death Glare (Kaze was thinking about having a patent put on it) wasn't enough to stop Carlos, an extremely aggressive, ehhh, _suitor _(that was the nicest term he could think of, though he had a stockpile of others) from trying to hit on Syri, much to Kaze's dismay and her chagrin. She'd brushed him off when he'd made his latest advances, but the wolf knew the human wouldn't be so easily dissuaded.

The blind woman backed his theory with the soft exclamation she gave after hurrying away from Carlos' general area which was: "Geez! He never gives me a break! It's always 'Sleep with me Syri!' or 'Come shack up with me!' or 'Help me break in these new handcuffs!' I wish he'd just leave me alone!"

Kaze blinked, slightly dumbfounded. He hadn't been expecting that last bit.

The rest of the day went rather well, since word had gotten around about Syri's new and quite scary seeing-eye dog by that time. Said "dog" didn't mind this one bit and rather encouraged the rumor by baring his teeth -but not growling since Syri would've heard that and probably smacked him- at Cynthia when she passed. At the sight of his very impressive incisors, she quickened her pace and abandoned her planned verbal assault on the blind woman. Kaze only just managed not to visibly gag on the smell of her perfume (one of those expensive ones that still smell absolutely awful) as it permeated the space she'd power-walked through. His eyes did start watering a bit though.

Kaze was relieved when closing time finally came. Syri was too it seemed, since she sighed happily and patted him on the head, whispering, "We're gonna go home in a minute, okay Kaze? It won't be too much longer." He woofed his agreement, nuzzling her palm and delighting in the brilliant smile that lit up her face.

Just as she was cleaning up to leave Mr. Thompson appeared. Pausing long enough to give Kaze a good scratch behind the ears, the man handed Syri her paycheck. She thanked him with a hug before putting her hand on her guide wolf's head and saying, "Come on boy, we've got to go see Nadia before we go home. Bye Mr. Thompson!" She waved goodbye, quickly exiting the building and entering the sparsely-lit streets.

They'd barely made it out the door when the wolf began to feel something ominous in the air around them. Casting wary glances at the dark recesses of the ruinous city they were traveling through, Kaze felt his hackles start to rise. Traversing the city during the day was dangerous enough, but to go through it at night was another matter entirely. Not wanting to linger any longer than necessary, he tried his best to keep Syri hustling. He did so well in his endeavor to keep her moving that she almost fell over him when he suddenly halted and planted his paws firmly on the cracked cement and began to growl.

Syri managed to catch her balance at the last minute with only a yelp and a muffled, but creative, curse. She set her hand against Kaze's ruff to steady herself but nearly pulled it back again when she felt the growl rumbling through him. Startled and wary, she listened closely to the other sounds around them, her way-cane clenched in one ready fist. She heard the skitter of rats and rustling of trash, though that really didn't mean much. It was the harsh sound of boots hitting concrete that told her that people were nearby and those people were coming closer. Blind though she was, she knew the sound of a regular crowd of people and this wasn't what it sounded like.

She quickly pulled out a mental map and time chart, plotting just how much activity this part of the city should be having at this time of day. They weren't near a market, there weren't any events going on tonight... One by one she checked off the list of what could be going on, and by the time she reached the end she was thoroughly convinced that a crowd of that size had no reason to be in this part of the city, especially not at this time of night.

Now she was getting worried.

Kaze snarled, lips pulled back and teeth bared in warning. His fur bristling he tensed, keeping himself in front of the worried but still sensible Syri. The blind woman had her way-cane clenched in one fist, ready for a blow. The wolf stared at the people before them. His fury at having the blind woman threatened made his white-blue eyes practically glow, and they were locked on the source of the threat against his newly-adopted human.

It was Carlos, and he wasn't alone. Behind him lurked the group of teenagers who'd set the board-trap for the blind woman only a day before. Their eyes were fixed on Syri and the scent of them was enough to make him sick. The hormones that clouded around the group were anything but good, and were all indicative of one thing. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the group had planned, and Kaze was by no means a stupid wolf. Growling, he backed up against Syri, forcing her to move backwards as well. Once she'd edged a safe distance away, he attacked.

Roaring his outrage at having Syri threatened, he tore into the mass of humans, ripping and tearing with abandon. With the ease of a born predator he devastated the group of ill-prepared deviants and gloried in the carnage, reveling in the ancient instincts that told him to protect his pack at any cost. Plus it wasn't often that he got this kind of exercise, the more detached part of his mind noted, so he may as well enjoy it.

For her part Syri was largely confused. She could hear the sounds of scuffling, of grunts and groans and cries of pain. The blind woman knew better than to try and interfere, since all that would happen was that she'd be caught in the crossfire. Mentally going through a checklist of options, she quickly decided that the best course of action for her at the moment was to put as much distance as she could between herself and the fight.

This was easier said than done, however, since she now only had her way-cane to guide her. Trusting her instincts and keeping her way-cane thrust ahead of her, she took off running in the opposite direction. Stumbling more times than she cared to count yet somehow keeping her balance, she kept her ears alert and her wits about her as she fled.

Kaze nearly started cursing when he realized that Syri was running away, and that Carlos had managed to separate himself from the general melee and was giving chase. Quickly smashing together the heads of two hooligans, he leapt out of the fray and took off running, hoping that he'd make it in time to protect the blind woman he cared for so much.


	5. Revolve

For the first time in her long memory, Syri was running. She was running, and running fast.

The thrill of it would've been enough reason for her to keep going, the wonderful feeling of the wind against her face and the sensation of her lungs and legs pumping and propelling her forward through the darkness of her world. Even the terror of her situation wasn't enough to fully dim the euphoria she felt. But it was enough to ground her thoughts, keeping her focused on the present and the fact that she was being chased and it wasn't Kaze trying to catch up with her.

Listening to the sounds of her footsteps, she quickly considered her options. She could hear her footsteps sounding against something in front of her, but open space to her left and right. Decision made, she veered sharply to the right. Praying that she wasn't going to hit any walls, she kept going.

Just as unfamiliar pain was starting to settle into her muscles she heard the sound of her pursuer's footsteps coming closer. Weariness forgotten, she poured every ounce of her strength into her legs. Going faster than she ever had before, she didn't realize that she was actually headed towards her house and the safety it offered.

Adrenaline could only keep her moving for so long however, and luck never lasted. Before she could do more than give a cry of surprise she felt herself being tackled around the middle. Her attacker's weight bore her to the ground and Syri yelped as she slammed onto the cracked concrete, clothes and flesh ripping on contact.

Feeling blood dripping down her cheek and the fire of several other scrapes, the blind woman lashed out with her way-cane, terror guiding her. The sound of the makeshift weapon impacting flesh only fueled her fury and fear, and she struck blow after blow, sending her attacker reeling. Scrambling to her feet and grasping her impromptu club in both hands she lashed out, trusting the sounds of pain her assailant made to guide her to her target.

It wasn't until the person yelled for her to stop that she realized who it was. Dropping her way-cane with a clatter she breathed, "Carlos...?" Relief flooded her system and Syri cried, "Oh, Carlos, it's you! I'm so sorry! I thought you were a mugger or something!" She laughed, a delighted smile stretching across her battered face. "Goodness, I was so scared!"

For the second time in one day Syri found herself yelping as she was violently forced to the ground, this time by Carlos kicking her in the stomach. Curling into a ball, she gasped in muted agony, pain lancing through her body. The first blow was followed by more, and she was soon swimming in a sea of blind anguish. Syri covered her head with her hands, sobbing as she tried to curl into the smallest target possible.

"This is for being yourself, Lady Dark." Carlos muttered, leaning over her abused body while he casually kicked her. "It's your fault that I'm having to resort to this. All you had to do was sleep with me, y'know. Then none of this would've had to happen."

He knelt down, fisting his hands in the collar of her shirt and lifting her to her feet. She swayed drunkenly, her hands clenched against her lips as she fought to breathe. Syri couldn't see the malicious smile that flashed across Carlos' face before his fist connected with her cheek, sending her to the ground again.

Her head cracked against the concrete, sending stars of pain rocketing through her skull. She barely noticed when her attacker straddled her hips, so distracted was she by the fiery agony that licked at her mind and body. It was only when he leaned down and whispered, "Now you're mine, Syri," that she realized what was about to happen.

She screamed.


	6. Change

"She's late."

"Mreow."

"You realize that she's late."

"Mreow."

"Your concern for your master is overwhelming, Kantama. I mean really. Try to contain yourself, please."

"Mreow."

Nadia rubbed the back of her neck with a grimace, reflecting that maybe coming to see Syri wasn't such a good idea. Especially when the only reason she visited was because of a bad feeling she'd gotten. It wasn't often that Nadia got such feelings, and though they were generally right she still didn't like acting on them.

However, overcoming her usual wariness when it came to trusting her premonitions the woman had braved the wilds and journeyed to her friend's house only to find that said house was completely empty. Oddly crestfallen, Nadia had let herself in and settled herself onto Syri's bed to wait for the blind woman to come home. As the hours passed she became more and more fidgety, first bouncing her foot, then her leg, then tapping out drum beats on the headboard with her fingernails, you get the idea. As you may have guessed, her attempts at conversation with the only other living being in the house didn't go very well, and soon she hit her anxiety threshold.

"Alright, that's it! Kantama, you stay here and guard the house, I'm gonna go see if I can find our addle-brained friend."

Upon receiving a non-committal mreow from the cat, Nadia quickly skedaddled out of the house and onto the broken stone that made up the walkway that led to Syri's house. She swore under her breath and broke into a run at the sound of a scream, dashing down the path with the speed of a champion sprinter.

The scene that greeted her once she cleared the edge of the trees was enough to startle her into momentary paralyzation. Syri, beaten and bloody, was trying her level best to crawl away from where a man with long black hair was slamming someone (was that Carlos?) repeatedly into the ground.

Overcoming her shock-induced stupor, Nadia decided that the best course of action would be to get Syri away from the men and back to her home. With this in mind she skirted the fighters and knelt at Syri's side, reassuring the blind woman that it was only Nadia and that she needed to get home right away. Syri grasped onto her like a drowning man to a lifejacket, nearly cutting off the circulation in her arm.

Nadia helped the blind woman to her feet, trying to keep a good distance from the strange man and the person he was pulverizing.

The blind woman gasped, "Where's Carlos?"

"No time to talk honey, just move."

"Nadia...."

"Just move baby!"

Going as fast as Syri was able, Nadia had almost gotten them to where the trees thickened along the path when she heard the man who'd been beating Carlos call, "Wait!"

"Hurry Syri!" She made a frustrated sound when, instead of listening to Nadia and doing what was best for both of them, the blind woman turned and cried, "Kaze!"

A rustle in the undergrowth beside them had Nadia swinging around to see a grey and white wolf staring at her. She blinked and the wolf turned into the man she'd seen beating Carlos, looking decidedly irritated.

Oh this was getting weird.


	7. False

Kaze swore under his breath, shifting his weight nervously as he stared at the woman staring at him. He'd been so focused on reaching Syri that he'd forgotten to be sure that he looked human, thus the break that had caused the current staring match. Belatedly he wondered if he could switch to wolf form and pretend like nothing had happened, but he knew Nadia was no fool. She'd already seen both his forms and, judging by the look on her face, had connected the dots that revealed the word--

"Wolf." Nadia breathed, her wide eyes suddenly narrowing while she placed herself between the creature she saw as a threat and the wounded Syri. The woman was currently half-slumped against her friend's back, her bloodied hair shadowing her bruised face.

Desperate to make sure the blind woman was okay, Kaze held up his hands and stammered, "L-look Nadia--"

She backed up when he took a step, taking Syri with her. "How do you know my name, wolf?"

His answer was effectively silenced when he heard the injured woman whisper, "...Kaze?" His white-blue eyes snapped to her face, watching raptly as he tried to discern how badly hurt she was without being able to touch her.

"Syri?" Nadia twisted to look back at her friend, her eyebrows furrowing. "You know this guy?"

".......what? Ugh, Kaze is my..... oh my head hurts!" She raised a clumsy hand to her temple, pressing hard as her face screwed into an expression of deep pain.

"We've got to get you to your house, honey. I think you've got a concussion."

"I'll carry her."

"Back off!"

"Look, you know you're not strong enough to carry her all the way to her house. By the time we get there she'll be even worse and you'll be too tired to do anything to help!" Kaze fought the urge to just knock Nadia to the ground and take care of Syri himself, though if she didn't let him help he'd do so by force or otherwise.

After an agonizing eternity of seconds, Nadia relented. With a weary nod and a sharp glance, she motioned him forward. He jumped into action with alacrity. Quickly moving in front of the two, he crouched down so that the woman could ease Syri onto his back. She was barely conscious and her head lolled weakly against his shoulder.

"Nadia, can you wrap her arms around my neck? That'll make it a bit easier. Thanks."

Pivoting on his heel, the lupine illusionist broke into a smooth ground-eating lope, leaving Nadia behind within seconds. The woman cursed, loudly, and then took off after him.

It wasn't surprising (to her at least) that by the time she reached the house he'd already set Syri onto the bed and was rummaging in the cupboards looking for bandages and whatnot. She quickly taken up a stance at the bedside, running the wolf outside with the excuse of she had to strip Syri to get to all her wounds. It was only after reassuring him several times that she'd call for him when their blind friend was decent again and threatening him with a large frying pan that he relented, swiftly zipping outside to wait by the door.

"Oh Syri, you do have a knack for finding trouble, don't you baby?" Nadia sighed, smearing ointment onto the scrapes on her friend's face. When Kantama jumped onto the bed, she spared him a pat on the head before turning her attention back to treating the numerous injuries the cat's owner had incurred. The feline, meowing piteously, curled up on the blind woman's chest. His tail swishing anxiously he occasionally leaned far enough forward to brush his head against Syri's chin as if reassuring himself that she was really there.

Several tense minutes later, Nadia was finally done. After changing her friend into a nightgown and tucking her under the covers, the woman sighed and brushed back her bangs. "Things to do today: Laundry, house cleaning, finding out how my best friend met a wolf. Not too hard." She turned to the window, calling, "It's okay to come in now!"

The words had barely left her mouth when the wolf came bounding in, skidding to a stop just beside the bed. Switching to his human form he leaned anxiously over the woman sleeping there, his eyes scanning her form. Apparently semi-satisfied with what he saw, he gave Kantama a rough pat on the head and dropped to a crouch, sitting back on his heels as he regarded Syri. He was so intent on her that he very nearly forgot that Nadia was there.

A hand whapped him none-too-gently upside the head, followed by, "Hey, wolf."

Never ignore Nadia. It's not good for you.

He turned to the woman, looking distinctly irritated. "My name is Kaze."

Nonplussed by his scary expression and ever-so-freaky eyes, Nadia leaned back against the wall. Crossing her arms over her chest, she commented, "It's not every day that you see a wolf walking beside a human, much less guiding one. So far as I know, most of your kind looks down on our's. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, don't lump me in with all the rest. Everyone's different. " Not wanting to tell her just why he was worrying so much over a human woman, and a blind one at that, he quickly asked, "How could you tell I was a wolf?" He shifted so he was half-facing Nadia, one knee bracing against the ground.

Not falling for his little diversion in the least, the interrogator snorted. "My grandmother told me legends about your kind. When she died I inherited a whole stack of pictures just of wolves that have been passed down in my family. I can tell a wolf from a dog, but you better be glad others can't do it half as easy as I do. If they could you'd be dead by now."

His eyes flashed, "Everyone thinks we're extinct, remember? It's only a few wackos who still hunt us."

"Wackos who know what to look for, idiot. If they figure out what you are, it'll be Syri, not you, who'll be in the most danger." Baring her teeth in a terrifyingly wolf-like manner Nadia snarled, "If she gets hurt because of you, you'll wish that it was only hunters that had gotten you."

He blinked. "You're scary when you're mad." Kaze glanced back at Syri, his eyes softening for a moment before reverting to their normal sharp cool. "What all is wrong with her?"

"I think she has a concussion. The rest is mainly superficial and will heal quickly enough."

"Are you going to stay the night here?"

"I can't, but I will come just before first light to check on her." Her eyes hardened. "I'm trusting you to take care of her against my better judgment, wolf, so if I come back only to find that she's lapsed into a coma, you _will_ regret it for the rest of your drastically shortened life."

He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Alright alright, I get it. She'll be fine, and if she's not then I will let you gut me. Sound fair?"

"Not nearly gruesome enough to suit me. But, I guess I have no choice. Dangit...." Nadia muttered something under her breath before wheeling to face the door, setting a hand on the knob and saying over her shoulder, "I love that girl, and I will die for her." She turned her head to look back at him, flinty eyes catching his. "I will also kill for her."

And with that, she left.

Kaze let out a long, whooshing breath of relief once he heard her footsteps fade. Falling back on his rump, he contemplated the door in silence for a minute or two before observing, "You have weird taste in friends, Syri. You really do."


	8. Darken

I do so hate to do this, but I must. Konbanwa. I'm Kantama, the author of this fanfic and the unfortunate writer of this particular Author's Note. I wanted to make something clear very quickly here. I'm an avid fan of Wolf's Rain, but I haven't been able to watch many of the episodes, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details regarding the wolves. I'm working off the assumption that when the wolves appear human, they feel human as well. My main support for this is Tsume. Yes, Tsume. You'll notice that when he fights he tends to pull out a pair of blades. If he were fully "wolf" or whatever you want to call it, there is no logical way for him to be holding those blades. I just wanted to clear that up.

Oh, and to you yaoi people. You do realize that wolves are pack animals, right? And that most of what people read as being gay behavior amongst our favorite wolf pack is actual wolf behavior? You didn't? Oh. Silly me.

When waking up, generally there are several things that one hopes won't be there. One is a giant man-eating monster of unknown origin yet known intent, another being stampeding zebras. And yet another one is tax collecters, but I digress. On the top ten list of the blind woman who was currently being shaken from the depths of slumber, however, was pain. Pain and lots of it.

"Hey, Syri! Syri wake up! Come on!"

Ways Not To Wake Up: In Pain and Disoriented.

"Mmmmnnnnghh?"

"Syri!"

"I'm up, I'm up." Still not fully awake, she slowly rose to a sitting position. Rubbing enthusiastically at her face with her hands, it didn't occur to her until after she'd turned and kicked her legs over the side of the bed that she didn't recognize the voice that had woken her up.

Oh dear.

"YyyyyyyyyAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Screaming bloody murder and then some, Syri aimed a vicious kick in the direction of the voice whilst groping for her way-cane. When she couldn't find it her fear heightened, her rage doubled and she launched herself at the unknown intruder, pounding with her fists.

Had she been more awake than she was Syri would have swiftly realized that, being blind, she didn't have a very good chance of beating away anyone who managed to catch her without her way-cane. Another epiphany would've been that, had the person been aiming to kill her or worse, it would've been in their best interest for her to stay asleep while they committed their nefarious deeds. Added to the list (my, we're finding a lot of these lists today aren't we?) would be the fact that Kantama, who was notorious for the feline version of howling loud enough to wake the dead when confronted by intruders, hadn't even meowed.

None of these revelations were forthcoming in her sleep-fogged mind, however, and so she fought. Or, she tried to. It's rather hard to do much of anything when the person you're trying to clobber manages to, judging by the feel of it, lay their body on yours to the point that you're squished beneath them and can't move anymore. You must admit, that sort of thing does make fighting of any kind difficult.

Syri, scared and now embarrassed, went stiff as a board. Kantama, lazily watching from a shelf, lethargically wondered how long it would take for her to crack her own spine that way. Kaze, who was trying to restrain the woman, wondered if it was such a good idea for him to have talked while trying to wake her up. Thus far it wasn't working out very well.

"Get off me." Her voice low and venomous, the blind woman hissed out her words with a heaping helping of miasma.

"If I do, do you promise to stay still?"

"Just get off me!"

Not wanting to upset her further, Kaze quickly moved back. She was up and against the far wall within seconds. She was fast when she was scared.

"Alright, now who are you?" Her voice wasn't getting any friendlier.

"You're not going to believe this, but I'm-"

They both jerked in surprise when the front door banged open, revealing a disgruntled Nadia with her friend's way-cane in hand standing on the threshold. She quickly crossed over to the bed, swearing softly. It was only when the woman turned to put the way-cane in its proper place beside the bed that she realized something was amiss.

"Syri, why aren't you in bed, sleeping?"

"Nadia! There was some guy in here and--"

"I'm still here, you know."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Kaze, what did you do to her?!"

Startled into silence, Syri swiftly backpedaled and ran her friend's last statement through her mind again. Kaze? Brought back to reality by the thumping, scrambling and swearing that was assaulting her ears, the blind woman surmised that her best friend was currently chasing said intruder around her home and had knocked an unhappy Kantama from his perch judging by the sound of his furious hissing.

"Get back here you weasel of a wolf!"

"You'll kill me!"

"Take it like a man!"

"_I'm not a man!"_

"Take it like a wolf then!"

"I don't wanna!"

"MRAOW!!!!"

"Ack! The cat's attacking me!"

"Hold him still for me Kantama!"

"Stay away from meeee!"

"STOP!"

At the sound of Syri bellowing like a drill sergeant, both wolf and woman (Kantama had skittered off to a safer area) stopped dead in their tracks and stared over at where the blind woman was standing. The two had overlooked the fact that the cause of their little chase was in the dark as to what was going on, and Nadia quickly briefed her from where she was bent over Kaze's back with her hands wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Kaze.... is a wolf?"

"Aheh.... yeah, I am."

"And this headache is from a concussion?"

"Yeah honey. Hold still you stupid pup! I haven't strangled you yet!"

"Am I supposed to just let you throttle me?!"

"Heck yes!"

And so the chase began again.

Syri sighed. Her friends were so weird.


	9. Step

Konbanwa, ye hearty few who read this fic. It's Kantama again, here to shed a bit more light on the realm of "blind". In case you haven't realized it, this story features only original characters. I don't trust myself much with characterization, therefore I don't write about the characters in the actual show. I can't stand Out-Of-Character fics, so I'm not about to write one.

Also, you may notice in the course of reading this fic that I alternate between referring to Kaze as a wolf or as a dog. I do that based on the character whose view I'm using. If you'll recall when I was writing that bit with Mr. Thompson, Kaze is called a dog. When it's a general view I refer to him as a wolf. It was also mentioned by one of my reviewers (who I cannot thank enough for taking the time to review, as well as the rest of those kind enough to leave comments) that my mentioning sensory details such as the color of Kaze's eyes is out of place, since the story is of a blind woman. Syri is indeed blind, but the people around her aren't. As before, I base those sorts of things on which character is seeing it. I just thought I'd clear that up for you.

Oh, I have a livejournal, by the way. If you're interested in the sundry details of my life, which actually don't tend to be all that pleasant, feel free to go and leave a comment or two, okii? 

Kaze was sulking. He was sulking and doing a good job of it. He couldn't help being good at it, really. You have to admit, when anything with four legs sulks it's always those of the canine and lupine variety that do it with the most effectiveness since they do the best puppy eyes.

As to _why_ he was sulking, it was because he was outside. Again. Yes, Nadia had succeeded in forcing him outside for the second time. Her current excuse was that he needed to go away for a bit to give Syri some time to get used to the fact that she had a large wolf for a seeing-eye dog. She had, again, used the frying pan to enforce her point; leaving a sulking wolf on the doorstep with an admirable goose-egg developing on his cranium.

Fortunately for him, Nadia either didn't know or didn't remember that wolves have excellent hearing. As such he was well able to listen in on the two talking, which was thus far proving interesting. At the current moment the women were discussing what he looked like.

"What color is his fur?"

"Grey that lightens to white around his face and underside. It looks a bit stereotypical, wolf-wise, but a person who didn't know better could mistake him for some kind of husky. It's his eyes that puzzle me though. My grandmother told me that wolves don't have blue eyes unless they're newborns, but his are so light blue it's almost white. Maybe he has some dog in his ancestry, I dunno."

"What does he look like as a human?"

"Handsome in a wild sort of way, unsurprisingly. Long black hair, about three inches taller than me, same color eyes. He would blend in with a crowd, so long as he kept his head down so no one could see his eyes. They're so freaky they'd catch anyone's attention."

"Where did he come from?"

Ah. A change of topic.

"He'd have to tell you, I really don't know. I haven't actually talked with him except to threaten him on your behalf."

He could hear Syri softly laughing. "You never change, do you Nadia?"

"Try not to. Anyway."

"Why has he been helping me?"

"Again, you'd have to ask him. I really don't know, nor do I care. Just so long as you're safe and he's neutered, I'm happy."

Kaze turned a bit green at that.

"Nadia! He's a wolf, I doubt he's going to go around breeding every dog in the city."

Actually Kaze didn't do that, but he'd known a wolf that did. No one liked that guy very much.

"It's not the dogs I'm worried about."

Syri made a puzzled noise. "Then why did you say that?"

A prolonged silence followed, with Kaze trying to stifle his snickers. It was finally broken by Nadia saying, "Honey you are the most innocent little thing I've ever met, God bless ye soul. Let's just put it this way, I'm guessing then when he looks human he feels human too. Does that explain it?"

"No...."

"Gah! I am not going to spell it out for you!"

Feeling decidedly evil Kaze called, "Is it okay for me to come back in yet?"

Syri "meep!"-ed in surprise and hastened to answer with a yes she was so sorry she hadn't thought to tell him so sooner. After he got inside he replied that it was okay, he was used to being outside so he really didn't mind.

When he came a stop sitting beside her bed in wolf form, Syri tilted her head. Stretching out a hand, she waved it hesitantly until he ducked his head beneath it. Smiling she scratched behind his ears. He enjoyed this very much, shifting this way and that so she could scratch all the best places.

Nadia gave a conspicuous cough, making the blind woman turn her unseeing eyes towards where her friend leaned against the wall. Kaze did the same, though his eyes narrowed at the expression the dark-skinned woman wore. She was hoping for Syri to kick him out, he just knew it.

"Alright wolf, time to do some explaining."

This will be interesting.


	10. Hide

w w w . l i v e j o u r n a l . c o m / u s e r s / k a n t a m a is the link to my livejournal.

Syri spoke first, gently rubbing Kaze's head. "Why did you come to me?"

The wolf decided that lying would not be in his best interests at the moment and possibly quite detrimental to his health, judging by the intensity of the glare Nadia was sending his way.

"You looked like you could use someone to watch your back. I have no pack to speak of, so I really didn't have anything else to do."

"There's another reason, isn't there?"

"If your tone gets any colder you're going to make the windows ice over, Nadia."

"Hush baby."

Syri lapsed back into silence.

"I wanted an easy food source. How's that?"

WHACK!

Yes, lying or being smart-aleky around Nadia is indeed a hazard to one's health.

"Quit being an idiot, wolf." The woman adjusted her hold on the frying pan, readying to launch another assault should it become necessary.

Syri mercifully decided to cut in. "Kaze?"

"Yeah."

"How come your eyes are blue?"

"What?"

"Nadia said your eyes are blue and that wolves don't have blue eyes."

"Oh, that. I guess one of my ancesters was a dog, I really don't know. Haven't thought about it much."

"Are you going to be my guide dog from now on?"

"Guide wolf." Nadia corrected, then glanced out the window. Her eyes widened and she cursed loudly. "I've got to go honey, I'll come by to check on you tonight. Go to work if you can, Mr. Thompson will be wanting to know what happened to Carlos."

She was halfway out the door when Kaze called her back, "Won't he tell his boss about being attacked by a wolf?"

Nadia glared. "Hopefully you weren't stupid enough to shift forms in front of him. Were you?"

Remembering just what had happened at the beginning of their encounter, the wolf lowered his ears sheepishly. "I don't think so?"

"Oh dear Lord. Just say that some Good Samaritan saved Syri and Carlos must've hallucinated when he hit his head! No one will believe him anyway!"

And then she was gone.

There was a moment of silence before Syri hauled herself out of bed, Kaze taking note of the bruised skin her nightgown exposed. "I guess it's time to go to work. Kaze, would you mind getting my clothes out for me?"

The wolf jumped, obviously not expecting the request. "S-sure. Do you want to wear a skirt or pants?" Shifting to human he walked over to the woman's closet and began riffling through it.

"I think a skirt would be alright for today." She pulled out various foodstuffs, fixing a quick breakfast for the three of them. Kantama jumped onto the counter, meowing loudly in an effort to hasten the arrival of his meal. He shut up only after Syri had ladled out his portion into a bowl and set it before him.

"Kaze?" She tapped the ladle against the side of the pot to clean a bit of the food off it.

"Yeah?" After laying out a long-sleeved blouse and matching skirt for the blind woman to wear he turned to face her. Blinking back into wolf form he trotted over to where she stood, dish in hand.

"Do you want me to set your bowl on the floor or what?"

"The floor is fine."

"Alright then, here you go." She knelt down and set the bowl full of food before him with a quick rub on the head.

As soon as he began eating she crossed over to her bed, warning the wolf not to peek before she started changing clothes. He kept his eyes on his meal, ignoring the sound of clothes rustling. He caught Kantama giving him a glare and grinned, half-turning just to annoy the feline. It worked and the cat gave voice to a long, loud meow.

"Are you done with your food, Kaze?" Syri came back to the stove, rolling up the sleeves of her blouse and tidying up the counter.

"Yeah. Are you ready to go?"

Syri smiled, "We have to ace them sometime, right?."

He sighed, walking to her side and ducking beneath her hand. His spirits lightened at the sound of her giggling and with no further words the two departed from her home, heading into the city.

If only they'd known what awaited them there.....


	11. Slip

Konbanwa. As you know I'm Kantama, here with a very late update. If you're wondering just why it's so late, let me explain.

This Document file is located on two computers. One resides in my own bedroom, and the other on the family computer. This wouldn't be much of a problem except my computer (which is named Valteira) doesn't have a floppy drive. This means that unless I create a data disc (which I won't do unless absolutely necessary since otherwise it's just wasting a perfectly good disc) I have no way of transferring files from computer to computer.

Compounding this problem is the fact that my computer is not hooked up to the Internet, but this one is, and also I spend most of my time on my computer. Therefore I haven't really worked on this fanfiction at all.

Happy early birthday, Noe-chan.

Kantama watched the two go. After a few minutes he uncurled from his perch, leaping down to the floor then vaulting up onto the windowsill. He watched until the pair reached a bend in the path, veiling them from his view.

The cat shook his furred head, ears drooping. Kantama's bronze eyes drifted closed. Tail twitching listlessly he murmured, "Goodbye, Syri. Goodbye forever."

For his part, Kaze was rather happy. The two had made it into the city unscathed, though several people had looked at them sideways. As always this failed to bother him; he was satisfied that Syri was safe and he planned to keep her that way.

The faint click of a gun being cocked was the only thing that alerted Kaze to the danger they were still in. Moving quickly he whirled around, knocking Syri off her feet and onto the ground. A gunshot rang out seconds later, the bullet striking where Syri had been just moments before.

Kaze pivoted, hackles raised and teeth bared as he searched for the shooter. In short order he spotted their assailent; it was one of the teenagers from the night before. This one bore evidence of the gang's failed attack - a long diagonal gash across his face courtesy of Kaze's teeth. The wolf's eyes narrowed a millisecond before he launched himself at the teenager. The boy cursed, dropping the gun and running. Kaze wasn't that easily deflected.

He gave chase. Within seconds he was upon the boy again, ripping and clawing with little regard for whether his target lived or died. By the time he was done the teenager was bleeding profusely from dozens of wounds, his mouth open in a silent scream of agony.

Kaze loped back to Syri, who received him gratefully. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his blood-spattered fur and sobbing. Quietly he assured her that he was alright, and that the boy that had shot at them was taken care of. This seemed to satisfy her and she drew back; rubbing at the tear tracks on her face with a grimace.

"Goodness, Mr. Thompson is going to be so mad at me whenever I finally get to work!"

With that the two resumed their trek, eventually reaching Syri's workplace. Needless to say, though it shall be said anyway, she was indeed quite late. However seeing as her track record was perfect thus far Mr. Thompson was willing to let her tardiness slide.

Luckily Carlos didn't show up for work at all. His absence didn't raise any suspicions since he was one of those who worked when he felt like it and the only reason he was still employed was because he was related to one of the bosses. In this case it was the guy who was just a little higher in rank than Mr. Thompson and Carlos just happened to be the unfortunate man's nephew.

Within minutes both human and lupine had settled into the workday routine. For Syri that was actually doing work. For Kaze that was looking ominously at people and growling when looking ominous wasn't sufficient. That wasn't often.

The only variation in the day came later on when Cynthia came by. The screechy-voiced woman condescendingly told Syri that the blind woman was supposed to go out to the loading docks for reasons unknown. When asked to produce proof Cynthia handed over a piece of Braille-covered paper. Syri ran her fingers over it quickly, mouth moving with each word, then handed it back and started walking.

Kaze lurched to his feet, having been comfortably settled on the floor before Cynthia appeared. With an indignant bark he hastened after the woman. Both completely missed the evil grin that crossed Cynthia's face.

Kaze had only been to the loading docks once before, that one time being when Syri had had to deliver something to one of the workers there. He didn't know exactly what was being loaded but he did know that they were being shipped in very large barrels. The end of the loading docks was even sloped so that the barrels could be rolled down it, again for reasons unknown to the wolf. Why it was even referred to as docks was a mystery to him, though truth be told he really didn't care. It was very noisy and therefore wasn't a good place to be in the wolf's book.

Suspicious, the lupine kept his ears perked and his steps light while he led the blind woman toward the manager's office which was set toward the back of the docks. This lead them up the sloping portion of the docks and Syri laughed as she tried to keep her balance on the sloped ground, leaning heavily on her guide wolf to keep from falling over.

After a minute or two of this she gasped out, "Kaze, I can't make it up this hill! Go up there and see if you can get the manager to come out, please? I'll wait here for you."

He hesitated, unable to shake the feeling of ill portent from his mind. Syri sighed, "I've still got my way-cane with me. If anything happens I'll run straight toward you, okay?"

Finally deciding that the blind woman would indeed be able to take care of herself for a few minutes the wolf nodded. Slipping out from beneath her hand he loped quickly up the incline, absently wondering why it was so steep. In no time he was at the door of the manager's office, scratching insistently.

A thick-set man opened the door. He frowned down at the wolf, who was again playing at being a cute, harmless dog.

"What are you doing here?" the man grumbled, scratching his head. "You belong to that Syri girl, don'cha?"

Kaze barked, impatient to get all this over with.

"Why're you here? I didn't send for her."

The sound of a barrel rolling caused horrified terror to rocket through his system. He whirled to see Cynthia, having just kicked over a large barrel, smiling as she watched it roll down the incline toward Syri.

She wouldn't be able to hear the barrel over the already present noise of the docks.

As it rolled the barrel hit a large bump, sending it tumbling end over end. Syri was unaware of it until the very last second, her blind eyes widening just before the metal container slammed into her, bashing her into the ground. Just as quickly it ricocheted off, continuing down the slope until it hit a wall and was thus halted.

By then Kaze had reached Syri's side. He saw that the barrel had smashed directly into her chest, shattering bones and rupturing organs. She was already coughing up blood, the liquid dribbling from the side of her mouth and oozing from the wounds across her chest.

Syri was dying.

With a tortured groan she rolled onto her side, opened her arms and breathed, "Kaze..."

The wolf ducked into her embrace, rubbing his face against her cheek. With a whimper he licked the blood from her face, causing her to smile brokenly. He could hear her heartbeat slowing as her blind eyes stared down at him.

Then, that quickly, she was gone.


	12. Slow

Kaze didn't move from her arms, a sort of numbness stealing over him. He was aware of nothing except Syri. Her eyes were still open, staring at him as he stared back.

Distantly he heard screaming. Far away Cynthia was sobbing, screechy voice wailing that she'd never meant to kill anyone. Somewhere the manager was calling for paramedics. Then came a voice that broke through the fog that had enveloped his mind.

"Syri baby..."

His movements slow and almost drunken, he raised his head to see Nadia. She was standing just inside the door to the docks, one white-knuckled hand clenched around the doorknob. Her disbelieving eyes were locked on the blind woman's corpse and she slowly shook her head.

She released her death grip on the door. Stumbling she made her way to where the wolf and woman lay, dropping to her knees at Syri's side. Kneeling in the woman's blood Nadia laid a trembling hand on Syri's shoulder.

"Syri, Syri baby, no... No you..."

Tears welled in Nadia's eyes to flow unheeded down her cheeks. Lowering her head the black woman hunched her quaking shoulders, hands gripping her upper arms with her fingers biting bruise-deep into her own flesh. Sobs clawed from her throat, ripping into voice. Nadia screamed, eyes clenching shut as the world seemed to halt.

Kaze watched the woman, a small emotion rising at the back of his mind. He swayed to his feet, allowing Syri's arms to fall from his body. Stepping carefully he made his way to Nadia's side, pressing against her in an effort to comfort the woman.

Just as her friend had done only two nights ago she latched onto him. Burying her face in his fur she screamed until she was hoarse, begging for Syri to be alive. Her pleas went unheard and when the paramedics arrived the blind woman was pronounced dead.

The instant she heard that Nadia's tears vanished. With calculating calm she rose from where she'd been crouched on the ground, leaving on hand on Kaze's neck. She swiftly ordered the body to be prepared for burial with the grave to be dug in the forest behind Syri's home. Everyone scrambled to obey her, mildly surprising the wolf.

After Syri's body was gone Nadia turned to face the lupine. "I'm going to go make sure everything is taken care of. Go back to the house and tell Kantama what happened."

Kaze nodded. With his fur still bloody he loped to the house. When he got there, however, his heart fell.

Kantama was sprawled out on the windowsill, tail dangling over the edge. His eyes were closed, paws tucked beneath his body. His face was peaceful, serene in death.

The wolf needed no explanation. He knew the cat had chosen to die of his own free will so that he and Syri wouldn't be parted on the day of her death. At that moment the lupine envied Kantama.

Kaze waited for Nadia to appear with Syri's body; standing guard outside the blind woman's house. When the black woman arrived she came with the grave diggers and a coffin. Once the grave was dug they lowered the coffin inside but before they could smother it with dirt Kaze gently leapt down to land lightly on its cover.

He lowered his head, appearing only to be a dog sniffing at the coffin. In reality he was saying goodbye. In his mind he could hear the blind woman's response and that was enough for him. Kaze vaulted out of the grave, trotting away as they began to shovel dirt into it.

When he returned the wolf had Kantama by the scruff of the neck, carrying the cat respectfully to where his owner lay. Ceremoniously Kaze dug a grave for the cat just beside Syri's. When it was deep enough he lowered Kantama into it, laying the feline to rest at his owner's side.

The grave diggers left. Only Kaze, Nadia, and the two graves remained behind. The living gazed down at the resting places of the dead, silent thoughts wandering aimlessly through their minds.

At length Nadia broke the silence, her voice soft and weary. "I wish you'd known her longer."

Kaze glanced up at her, pale eyes flashing. "I do too."

Without words the black woman knelt, wrapping her arms around the wolf's neck. Her embrace was strong and sure, evidencing a need to both comfort and be comforted. The lupine satisfied both.

After a while they broke apart and Nadia left. In the years that followed she would often return to the forest where her friend lay buried to let Syri know what was happening in the world. When the black woman died herself she was buried beside the blind woman, restoring a unity that had been lost.

Kaze never left the forest. He stayed there, guarding the graves of those he loved. He could do no less for them now.

For him, that was enough.


End file.
